3 Answers

I don't think of testing as an insect that has a defined beginning and end; instead I think of testing as a serious of activites that happen one after the other - mostly the blending of test design, test execution, communication, and learning. That test design can happen at different levels, like unit, integration, system, and acceptance, and for larger scoped projects test design might also including planning, strategy, etc.

For a project where the software is inteded to be delieved as a one chunk to programmers, then to testers ("waterfall"), I might say test strategy, test planning, test design, execution, and communication - but even that is overly simplistic, as these things tend to interleave.